Acts 27:1

Blass at the outset speaks of this and the next chapter as “clarissimam descriptionem” of St. Paul's voyage, and he adds that this description has been estimated by a man skilled in nautical matters as “monumentum omnium pretiosissimum, quæ rei navalis ex tota antiquitate nobis relicta sint”. He refers to Die Nautik der Alten by Breusing, formerly Director of the School of Navigation in Bremen, 1886; a book which should be read side by side with J. Smith's well-known Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, 4th edit., 1880 (cf. also J. Vars, L'Art Nautique, 1887, and see also Introd., p. 8). ὡς : particula temporalis, often so used by St. Luke in Gospel and Acts, and more frequently than by the other Evangelists; in St. Matthew not at all, in St. Mark once; often in O.T., Apoc., and especially in 1 Macc. ἐκρίθη τοῦ ἀποπ.: common construction in LXX with kindred words, e.g., βουλεύομαι, but no other instances of the genitive with infinitive after κρίνω (except 1 Corinthians 2:2, T.R.) in N.T., Lumby; see also Burton, p. 159. ἀποπ.: St. Luke stands alone amongst N.T. writers in the number of compounds of πλεῖν which he employs, no less than nine, J. Smith, u.s., p. 28, 61. ἡμᾶς : “with this section we tread the firm ground of history, for here at Acts 27:1 the personal record of the book again enters, and that in its longest and fullest part” (Weizsäcker): see also on ἡμᾶς, as intimating by its recurrence the narrative of an eyewitness, Hilgenfeld, Zw. Th., iv., p. 549 (1896), Wendt (1899), p. 402, note. The ἡμᾶς included Paul, Luke, Aristarchus; Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 315, maintains that both Luke and Aristarchus must have accompanied Paul as his slaves, and that they would not have been permitted to go as his friends, but see Gilbert, Student's Life of Paul, p. 201; and Wendt (1899) in reply to Ramsay points out that as the ship was not sailing as a transport vessel with the prisoners direct to Rome, but that a vessel engaged in private enterprise and commerce was employed, it is quite possible that Paul's friends may have travelled on the same ship with him as independent passengers. But see further Ramsay, p. 323. So far as Luke is concerned, it is possible that he may have travelled in his protessional capacity as a medical man, Lekebusch, Apostelgeschichte, p. 393. παρεδίδουν : assimilated to form of contracted verbs, so most certainly in Acts, cf. Acts 3:2; Acts 4:33; Acts 4:35, Simcox, Language of the N.T., p. 37. Winer-Schmiedel, p. 121. δεσμώτας, see below, p. 516. That Paul commanded respect is implied by the whole narrative: some of the other prisoners may also have been sent to Rome on the ground of an appeal, cf. Josephus, Vita, 3, but others may have been already condemned, Ramsay, p. 314. ἑτέρους : Meyer and Zöckler take the word to indicate prisoners of a character different from Paul, i.e., heathen, not Christians; but Wendt (so Hackett) points out that Luke in Acts uses ἕτερος in singular and plural as simply = another, or other, additional; Acts 7:18; Acts 8:34; Acts 15:35; Acts 17:34. As against this Zöckler quotes Luke 23:32; Galatians 1:7. Ἰουλίῳ : name far too common for any identification; Tacitus speaks of a Julius Priscus, Hist., ii. 92, iv. 11, a centurion of the prætorians, but see below on Acts 28:16. σπείρης Σ.: “of the Augustan band,” R.V. It is suggested that the term is here used is a popular colloquial way by St. Luke, and that it is not a translation of a correct Roman name, but rather “the troops of the emperor,” denoting a body of legionary centurions who were employed by the emperor on confidential business between the provinces and the imperial city, the title Augustan being conferred on them as a mark of favour and distinction. If this is so we gather from this notice in Acts a fact which is quite in accordance with what is known from other sources, although nowhere precisely attested. But can any connection be established between such a body and any branch of the imperial service which is actually known to us? There were certain legionary centurions who went by the name of frumentarii, who were employed not only, as their name implied, on duties connected with the commissariat, but also with the custody of prisoners and for purposes of police. In Acts 28:16, A.V. and R.V. margin, we have the remarkable reading: “and the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the [prætorian] guard” (see on l.c.). But it is urged that we cannot understand by this expression the Prefect of the Prætorian Guard, who would not be concerned with the comparatively humble duty of receiving and guarding prisoners. But in the Old L.V, called Gigas (unfortunately the only representative of the Old Latin for this passage) we have for a translation of the Greek στρατοπεδάρχης, in itself a very rare word, princeps peregrinorum. Now the legionary centurions who formed the frumentarii were regarded in Rome as being on detached duty, and were known as peregrini; on the Cælian Hill they occupied the camp known as the castra peregrinorum, and their commander bore the name of princeps peregrinorum. If therefore we may identify the Stratopedarch in Acts 28:16 with this commanding officer, we may also infer that Julius was one of the Peregrini, and that he hands over his prisoners to his superior officer, Ramsay, St. Paul, pp. 315, 347, Mommsen, Sitzungsberichte d. Berl. Akad., 1895, p. 495 ff., Rendall, Acts, p. 340. But see on the other hand Zahn, Einleitung, i., p. 389 (1897), Knabenbauer, Actus Apostolorum, p. 448, Belser, Beiträge, p. 147 ff., who point out amongst other reasons (1) that there is no clear evidence of the title princeps peregrinorum before the reorganisation of Sept. Severus, (2) that we have evidence that prisoners were sent from the provinces and committed to the care of the præfectus prætorio, cf. Traj., Ad Plin., 57, with reference to one who had appealed: “vinctus mitti ad præfectos prætorii mei debet,” and other instances in Zahn, u. s., and Knabenbauer. See further for the value of the Old Latin reading in Gigas “Julius” (Headlam), Hastings' B.D., and below on Acts 28:16. But whether we adopt the explanation suggested by Prof. Ramsay or not, it is still open to us to maintain that the title “Augustan” was a title of honour and not a local title; not connected with Sebaste the chief town of Samaria, or with Cæsar ea Sebaste. Schürer in answer to Mr. Headlam's criticism (“Julius,” Hastings' B.D.) is still of opinion, Theol. Literaturzeitung, 20, 1899, that reference is here made to one of the five cohorts of Cæsareans and Sebasteni mentioned by Josephus (for references see Jewish People, div. i., vol. ii., p. 53, E.T., and Schmiedel, Encyclop. Biblica, i., 909, 1899), and therefore a σπεῖρα Σεβαστηνῶν; but he maintains that this same cohort was distinguished by the title Augusta from the other four cohorts, and that the writer of Acts is rendering this title in the word Σεβαστή (see also below). It is possible (as Wendt admits, although he prefers Schürer's view, 1899) that Julius might have belonged to the cohors Augusta, cf. C. I. L., iii., 66, 83, Augustiani, Suet., Nero, 25, Augustani, Tac., Ann., xiv., 15, etc. (Belser, Beiträge, p. 154, Knabenbauer, p. 425), a select number of Roman knights who formed a kind of body-guard for the emperor, instituted about 59 A.D., and that he may have been in Cæsarea on some temporary special duty; but on the other hand see Page's note, in loco (cf. note on Acts 10:1). Grimm-Thayer, sub v. Σεβαστός (2), describes it as (an adj [407]) a title of honour given to certain legions, or cohorts, or battalions, for “valour”: “Ala Augusta ob virtutem appellata,” C. I. L., vii., 340, 341, 344, but there is no inscriptional proof that this title was given to any Cæsarean cohort; see “Augustan Band” (Barnes), Hastings' B.D., and Wendt can only refer to the bestowal of the title as “probable”.

[407] adjective.